archerygraham

Hey im a 15 year old bowhunter from pennsylvania. I harvested my first deer last year(4 point buck) during a stalk hunt in my woods. Anyways I have been hunting a very very large 10 or 12 point buck. Hes has re-visited his rub site this year with higher and larger rubs. These rubs boarder a clear cut. My question is "Is it worth to hun in the visinity of these rubs for the "Big Buck", because he has revisited the site. Or am i better off movin my stand to another location. Any ideas or tips would be useful. Thanks and Happy huntin

Belle Island

Rubs ALWAYS tell you one thing for sure, a buck has visited the area. From my experiences, this is not an isolated event, the buck that made the rub will revisit the area at some point.

If I were you I would do some investigating to see if you can locate a rub line. If you locate a rub line, you are in the right spot. This is an area where the buck in regularly traveling and feels safe.

If I were you I would leave the stand there, and carefully hunt this buck. If he is as big as you say, he will not tolerate any human intrusion.

Be very careful with scent control. Good luck.

Hunt the thickets

smokyghost

Well im pretty sure you know your land pretty good, and have a good idea where the bedding occurs and so on. If these rubs have just showed up recently now is the time becuz hes marking his teritory. I would do a lil more scouting to find wheres he headed and what hes doing. If its on the edge of a clearcut it could be a morning or afternoon site. if ya got any trail timers set em up and try to get an idea of whats going on. and remember try to stay as scent free as possible. I wish ya luck.

I know what your going through cuz ive been hunting a buck for 3 years and still havent seen him and neither has anyone else if I knew how to post a pic on here I would show him to ya.

FroMan

I'm not sure how the deer are up in PA, but down here, as early in the season as it is...you're much more likely to tag hunting a trail in between a bedding area and a food source. I'm not sure how productive the rub-line would be. But I'd give it a try nonetheless, I don't see what it could hurt. Good luck gettin the big boy!

My mind belongs to my work...
My heart belongs to my family...

But my soul...belongs to the woods.

baldknobber

hunt that line! Stay there man and hunt ONLY when the wind is right.

skeeter 7MM

Hunt only the perfect wind. I am not sure if I would sit on it entirely real early. I would tend to let it sit and keep scouting it and the area, once the bach groups windle down then I would camp on it if it is growing and active. Early I would lean to the hunt trails from bedding to food, chances are this rubline is on the way for the man in question.

Another thought put a game camera on it to see if you can get a handle on him. (if legal and all)

Tazman

If you can I would try to figure out when he is hitting this rub, first thing I would do is find a spot as far as possible from the rub where you can glass it, get in early in the morning and in the afternoon and see if you see him working the rub, if you don't then just put a piece of thread across the path near the rub in the late afternoon and then come back first thing in the morning to see if he is hitting the rub at night. If he is hitting it a night you will need to find where he is bedding or feeding. Rubs if the deer is working it in the afternoon or morning are good places to hunt early in the season, but a waste of time if they are worked at night.

I guess what I am saying is a rub basically is a sign you have a buck in the area, but not the best place in the world to hunt every time.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

James Vee

Most definately...in the early season, if a buck is making rubs he's going to show eventually. It's early, and you've found his core area. You know he's not running around chasing does, he's concentrating on one area. And if you can find the rubs early, you should have found the buck.

baldknobber

tazman that is brilliant. I just learned a new trick today. Man that's a good idea

wolfen68

Well, I don't NOT hunt rubs but I really don't put that much stock in their value when considering where I'm going to put my stand. As previously mentioned, I would focus on the transitional areas between bedding and feeding areas. Perhaps the rub you found just happens to be in an area like this and you are in good shape but bucks will rub trees, fence posts, etc., in the darnest places that really don't have much to do with the daylight travel corridors. A bucks home range even before the rut is potentially several square miles so narrowing down his pattern because of one rub by not be the best way to hunt this buck. I do, however, get excited about scrapes. IMO scrapes are much more indicative of deer travel and sustained activity and most times are placed between bedding and feeding areas.

Edited by - wolfen68 on 09/23/2002 14:44:01